“I went to school with Kade (and Laethan, I love that kid so much, he’d always help me with my math homework even though he‘s three years younger than me😂💘) from fourth grade until he moved, and I was on his bus/ and had classes with him for those four/five years. He was one of my great friends and every morning and every day after school found some crazy way to make me laugh no matter what 🙂 I thought I’d try to make you smile just a little during this heartbreaking time and let you all know just how amazing he was—here’s a couple (of a hundred) great memories I have with him.
It was fifth or sixth grade (the last couple years of elementary school are totally smushed together, I can’t really remember which was fifth or sixth😂), and the boys were all playing football. One of our friends was chasing him, and a few friends and I were staying under the ramada thing on the field when all of sudden—BOOM! Kade comes crashing in and smacks his forehead on the pole. It was a pretty good one, and we were all freaking out, but he just stood there laughing his butt off. He found the light in every situation and didn’t fail to make everyone else feel it too❤️.
Another one is the school talent show. Again, my mind for some reason can’t remember if it was fifth or sixth grade, but we had a good group—me, Kade, Skylar (another one of our good friends, she’s another one of our friends & she’s a year younger than us) and a few of our other friends who lived near us. Wow, typing this out, I just remember how those were such great times 🙂 we went after school to practice at his house and his mom (who was so sweet and made us snacks) helped us set it up. I can’t exactly remember what it was, but all I remember is we had one person do the head and the other do the hands (so it was just a funny thing where my head would stick out of this box thing and Skylar’s hands would try to feed me, or give me water, something great like that). This is the kicker, I can’t remember the other girl we did it with, but Kade made her laugh SO HARD that she peed her pants. That’s how you know someone is absolutely hilarious—ya can’t fake that! Anyways, he came up with the whole thing and we practiced a few times and then did it in the talent show (obviously giving everyone a kick😂😉). It was SO much fun❤️.
Thank you so much for giving me an outlet to talk about how much Kade meant to me. I know you guys are religious so I thought I’d share this, as well. Yesterday (the 22nd) my friend and I went to a Dollar General near where we live. I told her on the way back to try and find her way back to my house (all the roads connect down here, and she lives in town so I knew it wouldn’t be too hard) but for some reason she went a mile up Ramsey Canyon road and went down the road Kade and his family used to live on. We drove down it, and then I told her it was a dead end so she’s have to turn around (keep in mind, this was about six or seven hours before I heard the news of Kade). We turned around and headed back up the road when I said, “Oh my gosh! This is where Kade used to live!” And I told her about my talent show thing and stuff; she didn’t know him so I thought I’d share. He moved over a year ago, and I haven’t thought too much about him since, but yesterday I couldn’t stop thinking about him. And then it happened. I found out the news. I was completely shocked. Then I felt this feeling I had never felt before—it was like this rush of, I don’t even know. It was insane. But I knew he was there, and I think he was saying a little goodbye to me when I passed his old house earlier in the day. I’ll never forget that feeling, or him. I know he’s looking down on all of us and he’ll be watching over us making sure we’re always laughing and smiling❤️.
Again, thank you so much. I’m so sorry for your loss and you and your family will always be in my prayers❤️. Kade was such an amazing light in the world and his impact on people will never be forgotten.❤️”
-Kaitlyn Sutliff